Renton mayor proclaims September 'Ready and Renton Month,' emergency manager urges preparedness

Mayor Armando Pavoni on Sept. 23 read a proclamation declaring September 2024 "Ready and Renton Month," asking residents to "make a plan, build a kit, and help one another" and to sign up for the city's emergency alerts.

The proclamation, read into the record by Pavoni, notes that Renton has experienced natural and human-caused disasters and that investing in preparedness can reduce injuries, fatalities and economic harm. It urges residents to bookmark the city's emergency information pages and to sign up for Alert Renton and follow the city's social channels for updates.

Deb Needham, the city's Emergency Management Director, accepted the proclamation and described recent and upcoming planning work. Needham said the city completed its comprehensive emergency management plan last year, is preparing a recovery framework to bring before the council by the end of the year, and is actively updating its hazard mitigation plan to add additional hazard types.

"It's not something that should make you paranoid; what it should do is motivate you to get prepared," Needham said, urging residents to use community training such as the Emergency Management Preparedness Academy and Community Emergency Response Team classes to learn basic skills including fire suppression, first aid and search and rescue.

The proclamation also asks residents and businesses to share translated preparedness materials where needed and notes opportunities to prepare households for up to two weeks without services. Following the proclamation reading the council adopted it by voice vote and paused for a ceremonial photo before moving on to administrative business.